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Outcomes of the WPC on Climate Change in Bolivia

People’s Agreement of Cochabamba

According to the conference, if global warming increases by more than 2º Celsius, there is a 50% probability that the damages caused to our Mother Earth will be completely irreversible. Between 20% and 30% of species would be in danger of disappearing. Large extensions of forest would be affected, droughts and floods would affect different regions of the planet, deserts would expand, and the melting of the polar ice caps and the glaciers in the Andes and Himalayas would worsen. Many island states would disappear, and Africa would suffer an increase in temperature of more than 3 degrees Celsius. Likewise, the production of food would diminish in the world, causing catastrophic impact on the survival of inhabitants from vast regions in the planet, and the number of people in the world suffering from hunger would increase dramatically, a figure that already exceeds 1.02 billion people. The corporations and governments of the so-called “developed” countries, in complicity with a segment of the scientific community, have led us to discuss climate change as a problem limited to the rise in temperature without questioning the cause, which is the capitalist system.

Outcomes of the People’s Conference on Climate Change in Cochabamba, Bolivia

19-22 April, 2010

The declaration of the conference stated that under capitalism, Mother Earth is converted into a source of raw materials, and human beings into consumers and a means of production, into people that are seen as valuable only for what they own, and not for what they are. To face climate change, we must recognize Mother Earth as the source of life and forge a new system based on the principles of:

harmony and balance among all and with all things;

complementarity, solidarity, and equality;

collective well-being and the satisfaction of the basic necessities of all;

people in harmony with nature;

recognition of human beings for what they are, not what they own;

elimination of all forms of colonialism, imperialism and interventionism;

peace among the peoples and with Mother Earth;

The model supported in the conference is not a model of limitless and destructive development. As all countries need to satisfy the fundamental needs of their populations, but by no means can they continue to follow the path of development that has led the richest countries to have an ecological-footprint five times bigger than what the planet is able to support.

They demanded of the developed countries:

That they must commit with quantifiable goals of emission reduction that will allow to return the concentrations of greenhouse gases to 300 ppm, therefore the increase in the average world temperature to a maximum of one degree Celsius.

Restore to developing countries the atmospheric space that is occupied by their greenhouse gas emissions. This implies the decolonization of the atmosphere through the reduction and absorption of their emissions;

Assume the costs and technology transfer needs of developing countries arising from the loss of development opportunities due to living in a restricted atmospheric space;

Assume responsibility for the hundreds of millions of people that will be forced to migrate due to the climate change caused by these countries, and eliminate their restrictive immigration policies, offering migrants a decent life with full human rights guarantees in their countries;

Assume adaptation debt related to the impacts of climate change on developing countries by providing the means to prevent, minimize, and deal with damages arising from their excessive emissions;

Honor these debts as part of a broader debt to Mother Earth by adopting and implementing the United Nations Universal Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth.

They also unanimously deplored the attempts by countries to annul the Kyoto Protocol, which is the sole legally binding instrument specific to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by developed countries because, despite their obligation to reduce emissions, developed countries have increased their emissions by 11.2% in the period from 1990 to 2007.

During that same period, due to unbridled consumption, the United States of America has increased its greenhouse gas emissions by 16.8%, reaching an average of 20 to 23 tons of CO2 per-person. This represents 9 times more than that of the average inhabitant of the “Third World,” and 20 times more than that of the average inhabitant of Sub-Saharan Africa. The next Conference on Climate Change was held in November, 2010 in Mexico.

Incorporation of main conclusions of World People’s conference on Climate Change in UNCC

The main conclusions of the World Peoples Conference on Climate Change and the Right of Mother Earth (Cochabamba, April 2010) have been incorporated in the document of United Nations on Climate Change, that now have been recognized as a negotiation text for the 192 countries. The most important points that have been incorporated for its consideration in the next round of negotiations are:

50 % reduction of greenhouse gasses emission by developed countries for second period of commitments from the Kyoto Protocol years 2013 to 2017.

Stabilize the rise of temperature to 1º C and 300 ppm of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

To guarantee an equitable distribution of atmospheric space, taking into account the climate debt of emissions by developed countries for developing countries.

Full respect for the Human Rights and the inherent rights of indigenous peoples, women, children and migrants.

Full recognition to the United Nations Declaration on of Indigenous Peoples Rights.

Recognition and defense of the rights of Mother Earth to ensure harmony with nature.

Guarantee the fulfillment of the commitments from the developed countries though the building of an International Court of Climate Justice.

Rejection to the new mechanisms of carbon markets that transfer the responsibility of the reduction in emissions of greenhouse gases from developed countries to developing countries.

Promotion of measures that change the consumption patterns of the developed countries.

Adoption of necessary measures in all relevant forums to be excluded from the protection of the intellectual property rights to technologies and ecologically sustainable useful to mitigate climate change.

Developed countries will allocate 6% of their national gross product to actions relatives to Climate Change.

Integrated management of forest, to mitigation and adaptation, without market mechanics and ensuring the full participation of indigenous peoples and local communities.

Prohibition the conversion of natural forest for plantations, since the monoculture plantations are not forest, instead should encourage the protection and conservation of natural forests.